YUMA, Ariz. – The Yavapai College baseball team earned a victory in a pitcher's duel and fell in a slugfest on Tuesday afternoon in Yuma against the Arizona Western College Matadors. The 2-1 victory in game one and 14-10 loss in game two moves the Roughriders to 6-6 overall on the young season and 3-3 in ACCAC contests. 

Game One
After being on the wrong side of a pitching duel his last time out, freshman righty Dillon Orr got the start for the Roughriders in game one and was exceptional, once again. Orr went the distance in the seven-inning affair and allowed one run, one walk, scattered seven hits and struck out two. 

In addition to having great stuff on the mound, Orr also had great defense behind him in game one and it helped keep the contest within reach. Already up 1-0, the Matadors threatened to blow the game open early in the bottom of the first as a two-out base hit with a runner on second looked to do just that. 

Sophomore outfielder Jude Hall had other ideas, however, as he came up throwing on the base hit to center and got the outfield assist to keep the game at 1-0 in favor of AWC. 

In the bottom of the second, Orr faced more trouble as the Matadors put runners on second and third with one out, however, the freshman righty was able to get a ground ball with the infield in and struck the next AWC hitter out to escape the inning unscathed. 

After another zero from the YC offense in the top of the third, it was time for another web gem from the aforementioned Hall in the bottom of the third as AWC lofted a shallow fly ball into center field that looked to be a Texas leaguer. 

Instead, Hall raced to the ball and full-extension dove forward to rob the Matadors of a hit and help Orr to 1-2-3 inning. 

The pitching duel continued between the Roughriders and Matadors as each team came up empty in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, however, Orr did strand runners on second and third with one out once more in the bottom of the sixth. 

The five-straight innings of zeros brought the Roughriders to their final at-bat in the top of the seventh. Needing one run to tie the ballgame, the last frame is where things got wild.

The leadoff batter in the top of the seventh, Hall, smoked the ball off the mit of the AWC first baseman and wound up on second base with a double as the tying run with no outs in the inning. The next batter, freshman infielder Quinn Allen, dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Hall over to third with just one out. 

Freshman outfielder Zachary Dando then stepped up to the plate and dropped down another perfect bunt, this time between the AWC pitcher and first baseman to drive Hall in with a game-tying single. 

Keeping the trend going, freshman infielder Pierce Radke then stepped up to the plate with one out and a runner on first and dropped down another perfectly-placed bunt to the left side of the infield. The Roughriders received a gift on Radke's bunt as AWC threw the ball down the right field line and once the ball got back to the infield, Dando had scored to give YC a 2-1 lead with Radke standing on third base. 

The Matadors stopped the Roughriders from scoring after the trio of bunts, however, Orr went to work in the bottom of the seventh, needing just three outs to secure the complete-game victory and complete the comeback. 

Despite a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, Orr did just that and the game came to a close on a nice sliding play by the second baseman, Radke, with Orr on the right side of this pitching duel. 

Hall, Dando, sophomore infielder Ethan Thomas, sophomore outfielder Blake Jacklin and freshman infielder Niko Rosell each tallied one hit in game one. 

Game Two
The second game of the doubleheader was the furthest thing from a pitcher's duel and the Matadors found out right away as Jacklin launched the first pitch of the game over the center field wall for his second homer of the season. 

AWC then quickly capitalized on some sloppy YC defense in the bottom of the first and took a 2-1 lead. 

In the top of the second, the Roughriders took the lead right back on RBI singles from sophomore infielder Jack Erickson and Jacklin. In the top of the third, Thomas tripled to left center and later came around to score on an RBI groundout from Hall and the Roughriders led 4-2 heading into the bottom of the frame. 

From there, YC was forced to play catchup for the remainder of the afternoon as the Matadors pushed five runs across in the bottom of the third to take a 7-4 lead. 

In the top of the fifth, the Roughriders benefitted from a couple of free passes with the bases loaded to trim the deficit to one run, however, the Matadors responded once more with a three-spot in the bottom of the frame to take a 10-6 lead. 

The seesaw battle continued right away as Hall doubled in a run in the top of the sixth and later scored on a two-run single off the bat of Rosell. Three batters after Rosell, the Roughriders tied the wild contest at 10-10 on a passed ball. 

Once more, and thematically for the second game, the Matadors immediately responded with another three-spot in the bottom of the sixth and took a 13-10 lead. 

AWC was able to tack on one more run in the bottom of the seventh and held the Roughriders scoreless in the last three frames to earn the split and 14-10 victory. 

Offensively, Jacklin led the squad with four hits on the day while sophomore infielder Mitch Wood had three and Dando and Thomas had two apiece. Freshman catcher Wailele Kane-Yates, Hall, Rosell, Erickson and Radke each finished game two with one hit apiece. 

Up Next
The Roughriders are back in action on Saturday, February 25, in Phoenix, Arizona, where they will take on the South Mountain Community College Cougars with game one of the doubleheader set to start at noon.